Union Budget 2025-26: What get costlier, cheaper
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday. She has announced significant changes in customs duties and exemptions in the budget, affecting multiple sectors. While life-saving drugs, critical minerals, and EV manufacturing components will see price reductions, flat panel displays are set to face higher costs.
Items that have become cheaper:
* 36 life-saving drugs fully exempted from Basic Customs Duty.
* 28 additional goods for mobile phone battery production to come in list of exempted capital goods.
* Cobalt powder and waste, scrap of lithium-ion battery, lead, Zinc and 12 more critical minerals exempted from BCD.
* Exemption on raw materials for manufacturing ships was extended for another 10 years.
* BCD on Platinum findings have also been reduced from 25 percent to 6.4 percent.
* Raw materials used for manufacture of wired headset, microphone and receiver, USB cable, etc., will be exempted from BCD.
* Customs duty reduced to 5 percent for Open-Cell Displays.
* BCD exempted on raw materials for manufacturing ships for another 10 years.
* Customs duty on fish paste slashed from 30 percent to 5 percent. Frozen fish now taxed at 5 percent, down from 30 percent. Fish hydrolysates duties cut from 15 percent to 5 percent.
Items that have become costlier:
* Knitted fabrics
* BCD increased for flat panel display from 10 percent to 20 percent, impacting TVs and projectors.
While presenting her eighth consecutive Budget, she outlined that the Union Budget 2025 will prioritise the poor, youth, farmers, and women.
The Budget comes in the backdrop of the GDP growth rate projected to fall to four-year low of 6.4 percent in the current financial year. The Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled by the finance minister in both Houses has estimated India's GDP growing in the range of 6.3-6.8 percent in FY26.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
